1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cotton pickers, and, more specifically, to an improved cotton picking spindle.
2) Related Art
Cotton harvesters such as the John Deere Model 9960 and 9965 Cotton Pickers include a plurality of row units, each unit having an upright picker drum with a plurality of spindle bars rotatably mounting tapered spindles with barbs for picking cotton from the plants. The cotton-wrapped spindles pass under rotating doffer disks which unwind the cotton and push the cotton off the ends of the spindles.
The tapered spindles used on most modern cotton pickers consist of rows of barbs machined with barb front angles of from 55 to 65 degrees with respect to the axis of the spindle. Back land angles on the barbs are machined at an angle of about 41 degrees or more with respect to the recessed, flat area between the barbs. An example of a spindle with barb front angles of about 65 degrees and back land angles of substantially greater than 40 degrees is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,132 of common ownership with the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 2,823,509 issued to M. E. Lindsay shows another barb configuration wherein the barb front angle is at least about 65 degrees and the back land is formed at an angle of 45 degrees to the recessed area between barbs.
Conventional spindle configurations often require considerable doffing force to unwind the cotton tightly wrapped about the spindle between the barbs and to move the cotton axially off the spindle. As a result, doffer life is adversely affected and time-consuming doffer adjustments must be made frequently.